Perforated card reading and analyzing device



Aug. 4, 1936. J. R. PEIRCE ET AL PERFORATED CARD READING AND ANALYZINGDEVICE Filed Dec. 16, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 VENTQR i a! EATTORNEY- Aug.4, 1936. J. R. PEIRCE ET AL PERFORATED CARD READING AND ANALYZING DEVICEFiled Dec; 16, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 9w 1 F i a Q. 2 Nm. 5 U 5 m w mm II I... H

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TTORNEY- Aug. 4, 1936. J. R. PEIRCE ET AL 2,049,719v

PERFORATED CARD READING AND ANALYZING DEVICE Filed Dec. 16', 1932 4Sheets-Sheet 5 FIGA.

{,d, dgjrurons ATTORNEY- Aug. 4,1936. 2,049,719

J. R. PEIRCE ET AL EERFORATED CARD READING AND ANALYZING DEVICE FiledDec. 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG.6.

I 5 NTORJ'S I m ATTORNEY- Patented Aug. 4, 1936 UNITED STATES PERFORATEDCARD READING AND ANALYZING DEVICE John Royden Peirce, New York, andTorkel E. Torkelson, Merrick, N. Y., assignors, by mesne assignments, toInternational Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application December 16, 1932, Serial No.647,568

1 Claim.

This invention relates to analyzing devices for perforated cardcontrolled accounting machines and more particularly to the perforationsensing devices and the mechanism controlled thereby for controlling theaccumulators.

One of the objects of the invention is to devise improved means wherebythe perforations of the record card may be analyzed by sensing pins andthe reading taken by the pins converted by electrical devices which inturn control the accumulator wheels.

Another object is to devise means whereby the perforation sensing pinswill effect a setting of contacts in combinational arrangement wherebythey control the timing of electric circuits for controlling theoperation of the accumulator wheels.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be obviousfrom the following particular description of one form of mechanismembodying the invention or from an inspection of the accompanyingdrawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and novelfeatures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forthand claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the device showing the driving mechanismtherefor.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional elevation showing the analyzing mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a detail of the accumulators.

Fig. 4 is a detail of an accumulator wheel and the drive therefor.

Fig. 5 is a. portion of a perforated record used to control the machineand showing the code or arrangment of the perforations to represent theindividual digits.

Fig. 6 is a detail at an enlarged scale of the sensing pins and thecontacts controlled thereby.

, Fig. 7 is a wiring diagram of the electric circuits controlled by thesensing pins and in turn controlling the accumulator magnets.

In the well known Hollerith tabulators, accumulators similar to thatshown in Fig. 3 are employed in which a constantly rotating shaft may beclutched to the accumulator wheels during a portion of a revolution ofthe shaft to turn the accumulator wheels a distance representing thevalue which is being added. In the Hollerith type of tabulator thecontrol card is provided with ten hole positions to a column, the valuesranging from up to 9. The card is fed so that the ten positions in acolumn pass successively under sensing brushes, the 9 passing under thebrush first, followed by the 8, and then the '7, etc. The accumulatordriving shaft turns synchronously with the passage of the successivehole positions of the card under the brush. If a hole appears in the 9position, the accumulator clutch is thrown in and the accumulatorcommences to turn and continues to turn until the end of a card cycle,at

which time it is de-clutched. During this cycle the accumulator wheelturns to accumulate the value 9. If a perforation appears at some otherpoint in the column, as for instance at the position, the clutchingtakes place at a corresponding- 5 1y later time in the cycle andcontinues to the end of the cycle, adding 5 to the accumulator wheelbefore the de-clutching takes place.

In the present invention, the same type of accumulator is used,operating synchronously with 10 a commutator which in turn contactselectric circuits to energize the accumulator control magnets atdifferent times during the cycle of operation, depending upon the amountto be added to the accumulator wheel. The time in the cycle when acircuit will be established through the commutator to the accumulatorcontrol magnet depends upon the setting of contacts which are controlledby the sensing pins.

Instead of using ten hole positions in a column to represent a digit,the present uses but four and instead of reading the card while it ismoving past brushes it is stopped in the sensing position and pins areprojected against it to sense the perforations therein. One or moreperforations in the four positions are used to represent any given digitin accordance with the well known Peirce combinational system.

In Fig. 2, the perforated cards I are shown stacked in a hopper 2mounted between the supporting plates 3. A weight 4 presses the cardsdown in the hopper. A narrow slot 5 at the bottom of the hopper isadapted to permit but one card to pass through at a time. The cardpicker 6 is adapted to engage the lowermost card of the stack andadvance it through the slot 5. The picker is mounted on sliding member Icarried in the grooves 8 in the frame of themachine. The supportingmember 1 is provided with rack teeth meshing with a segmental gear 9mounted on a shaft 10 and adapted to oscillate to move the picker backand forth. The shaft H) has fixed thereon, outside of the supportingplates 3, an arm H (see Fig. 1) connected by a link l2 to a bell crankl3 pivoted at I4 and provided with a cam follower roll l5 cooperatingwith a cam I6 fixed on shaft H. A spring I8 connected to an arm I9 alsoon shaft l0 serves to hold the follower l5 against its cam and to movethe picker forward to feed the card through the slot 5. This action isreadily traceable through the connections just described. The shaft I!has fixed thereon a gear 20 meshing with a gear 2| which in turn mesheswith gear 22. Gear 22 meshes zvith gear 23 which is driven by thedriving gear One complete-cycle of the shaft l1 causes the card pickerto move once to the right to feed a card through the slot 5 and back tothe left as in Fig. 2. When the card is fed through the slot 5, 6c

it is gripped between feed rollers 25, 26 and fed by these rollers tothe next set of rollers 21, 28 which in turn feed it between the plates29, 3|]. The card is fed downwardly until it is stopped by a gate 3|mounted on an arm 32 pivoted at 33.

Fixed on shaft 33 as shown in Fig. 1 is an arm 34 connected by link 35to a cam follower arm 36 having a cam follower 37 cooperating with a cam38 on the shaft H. A spring 39 holds the follower against its cam. Thecam 38 is adapted to cause the gate 3| to move to the position of Fig. 6to stop the card I between plates 29, 30 and to rock counterclockwise topermit the card to pass out from between the plates 29, 30 later in thecycle. At this time, the feed rollers 40, 4| will feed the card out frombetween the plates 29, 30. A curved guide plate 42 will guide theleading edge of the card into cooperation with .the clips 43 on the cardstacker 44 pivoted at 45. This stacker is well known in the art and neednot therefore be described in detail. The stacker is actuated by a bevelpinion 46 on shaft 45 and meshing with a bevel pinion 4'I fixed on shaft48. Another bevel pinion 49 on shaft 48 meshes with bevel pinion 56fixed on shaft 5| with gear 2|. The timing of the stacker is such thatthe clips 43 are open to receive the card as it feeds downwardly overthe guide plate 42. The clips then grip the card and pull it into thedischarge stack or pocket 52.-

The turning of the feed rollers is effected by a gear 53 mounted onshaft I1 and meshing with a pinion 54 fixed with respect to the feedroller 21. The pinion 54 meshes with pinion 55 fixed with respect to theroller 28 which is carried by an arm 56 pivoted at 51 and heldresiliently against the card by a spring 58. An idler 59 meshes withpinion 54 and pinion 6|] fixed with respect to the feed roller 25.Pinion 60 meshes with pinion 6| fixed with respect to the feed roller 26which is carried on the arm 62 pivoted at 51 and held resiliently byspring 63 against the card.

The lower feed roller 48 is provided with a pinion 64 meshing with gear53. The roller 4| is not positively driven but is driven by beingpressed against the card and in turn pressing the card against theroller 48 which is positively driven.

'Roller 4| is carried on an arm 65 loose on the shaft'33 and providedwith a pin 66 which is engaged by an arm 61 fixed on shaft 33. Spring 68attached to the arm 65 tends to rock the roller 4| against the card orthe roller 40 lightly. When the shaft 33 rocks to move the gate 3| topermit the card to be fed out, the arm 61 engages the arm 65 and pressesthe roller 4| firmly against the card to insure feeding thereof.

After the card'I has been fed to the position of Fig. 6 and stopped bythe gate, the sensing pins 69, of which there are four for each columnof data on the card, are permitted to advance against the card. Thesensing pins are supported at their forward ends in the plate 36 and atan intermediate point by a plate II. Each pin 69 is provided with aspring I2 resting at one end against a collar I3 fixed to the pin and atthe other end against a collar 74 loose on the pin and resting againstthe plate II. The spring I2 thus tends to press the pin against the cardor through the card if there is a perforation therein at that position.A restoring plate l5 resting against the collar I3 is adapted to restorethe sensing pins to non-reading positions as in Fig. 2 and to be movedto the left to permit the pins to take a reading from the card. Therestoring plate I5 is connected to arms l6 which, in

turn, are connected to arms 11 fixed on shaft 18 which, as shown in Fig.1 has fixed thereon an arm 19 connected by a link to an arm 8| pivotedat 8|a and fixed with respect to a cam follower arm 8|b provided with acam follower roller 5 82 cooperating with a cam 83 fixed on shaft 84.Shaft 84 has fixed thereon a gear 85 meshing with a gear 86 on the shaft81 on which is also mounted the gear 23. A spring 88 connected to armBlb holds the follower 82 against the cam 83. 10 The cam positivelyrestores the plate I5 to the position of Fig. 2, removing the pins fromreading position of Fig. 6 to the position of Fig. 2 while the spring 88moves the plate 15 to the left to permit the pins to be actuated bytheir springs 15 to take their readings. Each pin 69 has integraltherewith a rectangular rod 89 which carries a lateral projection 90.

Cooperating with projections 90 is a vertically reciprocable plate 9Ihaving cam surfaces 92 20 and steps 93 which permit the rods 89 to ad-Vance toward the left either one step or two steps when the related pin69 enters a perforation in the card. When a single pin 69 advances aloneto sense the perforation representative of 2 either a '1, a 2, a 5, or a0, it Will advance two steps, its projection 96 advancing to the fulldepth of the slots in plate 9|. The three lowermost projections 90 will,in so doing, engage cam surfaces 92 and raise plate 9| so that steps 9330 will be in the path of projections 90 of the three upper rods. Itfollows then that when a two hole combination is sensed, one of the pinswill advance two steps and the other will move but one step, and it willbe seen upon inspection that it is 3 the lowermost pin of thecombination that advances two steps, camming plate 9| upwardly to limitthe advance of the second pin to one step. Fig. 6 shows pins 69positioned to read a 6 for which combination the lowermost pin has ad-40 vanced two steps camming plate 9| upwardly so that the uppermost step93 limits the advance of the uppermost projection 90 to one step.

Cooperating with the free ends of rods 89 are pairs of contacts DI, CI,C2, BI, B2, AI, and A2 45 which are all normally open and associatedwith the rods as shown in Figs. 2 and 6. When one of the three uppermostrods 89 advances one step, one of the contacts C2, B2, or A2 will close.and when one of the rods advances two steps, 50

Sensing of digit '7 will cause closure of DI and C2 65 Sensing of digit8 will cause closure of CI and B2 Sensing A2 Sensing of digit 0 willcause closure of AI A set of contacts is provided for each column ofdata analyzed and the blades of the contacts are wired to the segments95 of a commutator 96 as shown in Fig. '7, there being a commutator foreach set of contacts. Commutator 96 is sta- 75 of digit 9 will causeclosure of Bi and tionary and mounted concentrically about shaft 84which carries brushes 9,! for cooperation with the segments 95. Shaft84, and consequently brush 91, is synchronized with the accumulator insuch manner that during the entering period of the accumulating cycle,brushes 9'! contact with and connect the pairs of segments 95 from 9 tosuccessively, making a half revolution in so doing.

The accumulator wheels or pinions are shown at H (Figs. 3 and 4) and areloose on shaft H6. The accumulator pinions mesh with gears II'I loose onshaft II8 which is constantly rotating. Fixed to the gear II! is aclutch member H9 and slidably mounted on shaft II8 but constrained toturn therewith are clutch members I provided with circumferentialgrooves engaged by clutch control arms I2I pivoted at I22. Associatedwith each arm I2I is a control magnet I23 having an armature I24 pivotedat I25 and actuated by a spring I26 into position over shoulder I241].of a block I24b fixed to the arm I2I. Armatures I24 which serve aslatches thus hold the arms I2I in position to maintain the clutchmembers I20 out of mesh with the clutch members II9. When the magnet I23becomes energized, rocking its armature I24, the respective arm I 2I isunlatched and the spring I21 of contacts I28 rocks the arm I2Icounterclockwise about its pivot I22 and moves the clutch member I20into cooperation with member II9 so that the gear I I! will be caused torotate, thus turning the accumulator wheel I I5.

'The clutches are, of course, brought into operation at varying timesduring the adding portion of the cycle but all are de-meshed together atthe end of the cycle by mechanism shown in U. S. Patent No. 1,307,740.The accumulator parts are turned by a gear I30 meshing with a gear I3Ifixed on shaft 84.

The manner in which a specific digit, let us say 6, is entered into theaccumulator at the proper time will now be explained in connection withthe circuit diagram of Fig. 7. Current is supplied from a source S tothe lines I32 and I33. A pair of contacts I34 is disposed in line I33and controlled by a cam I35 on shaft 84 to close the contacts during theentering period of the accumulator. This period corresponds to a halfrevolution of shaft 84 wherein brushes 91 traverse the 9 to 0 segmentsin succession. As explained above, the sensing of a 6 combination bypins 69 will cause closure of contacts DI and A2. When the brushes 9!bridge the 6 segments 95 a circuit is completed as follows: from sourceS, contacts I34, wire I36, wire I31, contacts A2 (now closed), wire I38,6 segment 95, brushes 91, other 6 segment 95, wire I39, contacts DI (nowclosed), wire I40, accumulator clutch magnet I23, contacts I28, wireI32, back to source S.

As soon as the magnet I23 is energized, the arm I2I becomes released toeffect clutching of the respective accumulator pinions. At this time thespring I21 which actuates the arm I2I opens contacts I28 and the magnetI23 becomes deenergized. The particular accumulator wheel will nowcommence to rotate and will continue to rotate until the end of thecycle when it becomes de-meshed from the driving shaft H8. Theaccumulator wheel will during this time turn an amount equal to thevalue of 6. The construction of the accumulators to effect carrying fromone order to the next higher order being well known in this art is notshown in detail here.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, itwill be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changesin the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operationmay be made by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of the inven- 9 tion. It is the intention therefore to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is as follows:

In a machine of the class described, means for feeding records to themachine, a plurality of sensing pins for sensing a record, a single pairof contacts associated with one of said pins, a plurality of pairs ofcontacts associated with each of the other pins, each pin being designedto normally close a single pair of contacts when the pin senses aperforation in the record, means controlled by the first mentioned oneof said pins for causing another of said pins to close a different oneof the pairs of contacts associated with the latter pin when both pinssense perforations in the record, a magnet, a commutator havingassociated brushes, and means controlled by said commutator and contactsfor differentially closing a circuit through said magnet.

" JOHN ROYDEN PEIRCE.

TORKEL E. TORKELSON.

